Warsaw’s Jacob Kissling sets the pace at last weekend’s Culver Academies Regional. Kissling clocked 16:31.4 at New Prairie Saturday to make the individual cut out to next weekend’s state finals. (File photos by James Costello)

NEW CARLISLE — The cross country season ended for all but one area runner at Saturday’s New Prairie Semi-state.

Warsaw’s girls finished in eighth place, two spots out of a state berth, with 212 points, while the Tiger boys finished ninth, just 17 points out of sixth place.

Junior Jacob Kissling did make the individual cut out to next weekend’s state finals in Terre Haute with a 16th-place result and 16:31.4 time, earning him the sixth of the 10 start line spots reserved for individuals from non-advancing teams at the big meet at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course next Saturday. The last of those 10 individuals crossed the line in 16:39 after a blistering pace at the challenging course in New Carlisle.

Tanner Stiver was next into the chute for Warsaw’s boys with a 17:05 stop in 49th place, Sam Lechlitner placed 56th in 17:08.5, Fernando Niebbia was 64th in 17:14.5, and Harrison Phipps finished in 17:23.9 for 77th place.

Crown Point won the boys race with an impressive score of 93, followed by Valparaiso with 107 points, Chesterton with 112 points, West Lafayette with a 140 score, and Lafayette Harrison with 165 points. Lake Central earned the final team berth to state with 195 points as the cutoff was extended from the top five to the top six teams at the semi-state level of the tournament.

The Lady Tigers finished just two places and 23 points on the wrong side of the bubble to come up short of a second straight state qualification.

Ava Knight surged into 21st place with a 19:28.6 stop of the clock, finishing a heartbreaking 1.6 seconds outside of the last of the 10 individual state berths as Wheeler’s Emma Hellwege took the last of those appointments just ahead of Knight. Wini Barnett finished in 35th place with a time of 19:58.4, Erika Bugg was 51st in 20:17.3, Adree Beckham placed 69th in 20:36.3, and Regan Brouwer clocked 20:43.6 for 77th place.

West Lafayette took home the girls team championship with 93 points, Valparaiso finished second with a 115 score, Harrison was third with 162 points, Portage finished fourth with a 171 tally, Lake Central was fifth with a 185 score, and Lowell finished just four points behind for the last of the six team berths to state.

The state finals will take place next Saturday, with the boys race scheduled for 1 p.m. and the girls run slated for 1:45 p.m.

NEW HAVEN SEMI-STATE

NorthWood’s boys team concluded its season with a 17th-place result at the New Haven Semi-state, and a handful of individual runners also closed out the year at the race Saturday.

Wawasee’s Karlson Hand turned in a 17:01.6 stop for 67th place in the top finish among area boys at the race. Michael Hammer was 80th in 17:11.8.

The Panthers were paced by Brady Hunsberger in 17:21.2, good enough for 100th place. Jordan Burden was 119th in 17:37.7, Eric Hochstetler was 133rd in 17:52.8, Titus Stutsman was 135th in 17:53.4, and Garrett Myers placed 143rd in a time of 17:57.9.

Fort Wayne Concordia Lutheran had three in the top 10 and six inside the top 30 en route to the team title with just 49 points. Homestead placed second with 98 points, just one point ahead of third-place Fishers, while West Noble was fourth with a score of 163, Columbia City was fifth with a 173 score, and Hamilton Southeastern finished sixth with 179 points.

NorthWood’s Kaitlin Burden rounded out her sophomore season in 109th place in the girls run with a time of 20:59 flat.

Fort Wayne Carroll put up just 50 points for the team title, Fishers was a distant second with 139 points, Homestead was third with 145 points, Hamilton Southeastern placed fourth with a 168 score, followed closely by Northridge’s 169 score, and Concordia Lutheran was sixth with 189 points.

Leading Ridge was Haylee Hile in ninth place with an 18:33.5 time. Alison Bache was 34th for the Raiders in 19:36.2, Caitlin Clark placed 45th in 19:51.3, Tamenech Baylis was 47th in 19:53.5, and Clare Ritchie was 53rd in 19:59 flat.